Cam
by swkaioshin
Summary: This is for HarvestMoonAddict's 100 Theme Challenge. 100 themes centered on Cam.
1. Introduction

**This is in response to HarvestMoonAddict's 100 theme challenge. I have chosen Cam, for there isn't much out there yet for Tale of Two Towns! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon, but it has gained the ownership of countless hours of my life over the past few years, and refuses to return them.**

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><p><em>Introduction<em>

Once he had lived in the city, where the buildings towered way above him, casting a deep shadow over the streets in which his flowers shivered and died. One day he closed up his small unnoticed florist shop on the busy street corner and wandered far away until he found himself back in his hometown Bluebell, where the sun shone high above him, and his flowers smiled at it in radiant full bloom. Here he discovered that his true inspiration had stemmed from the wildflowers growing freely on the mountain. Cam decided he would never leave this small town again.


	2. River

_2. River_

He first started seeing her by the river, where she would kick off her boots and let her sore feet dangle in the water. At first he didn't like the intrusion- Cam liked to be alone, with a book and the water chattering beside him. But first impressions are meaningless, and he begins to find that Lillian is really just a delicate flower of a girl with long brown hair and violet eyes. One day he actually closes his book, takes off his shoes, and shoves his own feet into the water. Her eyes just sparkle at his sudden action.


	3. Farm

_3. Farm_

"So is her farm better than mine?" Ash questioned him one day.

"That's unfair. It's like you're asking me to pick which one of my friends I like better, and you know darn well I'm not going to do that."

Ash sighed. "Sorry, it's just that we work so hard to keep our farm going and she waltzed in here just a season ago and has the whole farm running perfectly..."

"You love your sheep, she loves her chickens; you've got great milk, she's got great crops. This town relies on your farms together, not separately."

Ash smiled. "Thanks Cam."


	4. Warmth

**I actually found this one to be quite difficult to find something to write about that fits! Hope this works!**

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><p><em>4. Warmth<em>

The worst thing about winter was the cold, and how it bit at his face with its wind and killed his flowers with its frost.

"Here you are Cam."

The soup Howard set in front of him was steaming, and had the delicious aroma of potatoes and onions.

"And don't forget this." Laney set down a mug of hot tea with the scent of peppermint.

"Guys, this is just wonderful." Cam reached for his wallet. "Can't I just-"

"NO."

The best thing about winter was Laney and Howard, and how their food and friendship never failed to warm his heart.


	5. Clouds

_5. Clouds_

"Oh, that one there is definitely a sheep."

"Ash, you said that about the last one, _and_ the one before that! Could you please at least _pretend_ that not every cloud in the sky looks like a sheep?"

Ash sat up and glared at him. "Wait, so you're telling me I can't call most, _fluffy, puffy, white_ clouds sheep, and yet you can say that all these clouds look somewhat like stupid flowers?

"Well, that one over there _does_ have a shape awfully like a tulip…"

"UNFAIR! LILLIAN TELL HIM HE'S UNFAIR!"

Lillian just shook her head and laughed. "Boys."


	6. Bells

_6. Bells_

"Here." He says quickly, shoving the bouquet of flowers at her and covering his blushing face with his hat.

"My goodness, thank you Cam! What a pleasant surprise!" Lillian inhales the flowers' scent, and Cam can't help but grin in accomplishment under the brim of his hat.

"I love all the flowers you picked…daisies, carnations, hyacinths…oh what's this one?" She asks, gently prodding a stalk of blue flowers.

"Bluebells." His face annoyingly starts to heat up again. "Because you love this town as much as I do."

Lillian smiles widely, and to his utter surprise kisses him on the cheek.


	7. Love

_7. Love_

"You ever been in love before?" The naïve Ash asks him one day as he is weeding the flower garden in the town square.

Cam pauses for a second. "I don't know. That's a hard word, love. I've liked a lot of girls, especially in the city. But I can't say I loved them, or that they really loved me."

"Yeah." Ash was twiddled his thumbs in his lap, frowning softly. "You think we'll ever find love?"

He scans over the flowers in the flowerbed, and his eyes come to rest upon a violet. _The color of her eyes… _"Maybe."


	8. Cold

_8. Cold_

"Cam, you've seriously got to get in here now before you catch cold!"

"Absolutely not Laney!" Cam said between his chattering teeth.

"_Cam, _this is ridiculous!_" _ The blond rolled her eyes and stomped her foot, but he shook his head.

"No way. I've been very carefully raising these babies and I am _not _letting them drown out here."

"Fine then, suit yourself." And so she left him outside, shivering in his soaking wet shoes, with an umbrella held tenderly over a few tiny green plant buds poking out of the dirt in a large ceramic pot outside the small café.


	9. Coffee

_9. Coffee_

Cam yawned and stretched out his arms.; today had been absolutely exhausting at the flower shop.

"Thanks for helping me out today Lillian, I really appreciate it."

"Anytime Cam." She looked up towards the sky: the sun was setting in the distance. "Looks like it's getting late. I should get home."

"Wait, you can't go yet!" Cam blurted out. "I mean…um…let me buy you a coffee, in return for a hard day's work? I may even throw in a sandwich."

"Sure." She said, looping her arm in his. "But let's skip the coffee and have tea; coffee tastes like dirt."


	10. Gift

_10. Gift_

"I have a surprise for you." She says and grabs his hand and pulls him off to her farm. Cam is surprised, but lets her lead him along.

She tells him to close his eyes and put out his hands. He follows her instructions without hesitance. A warm object covered in fur falls into his outstretched hands.

Cam opens his eyes: there's a pale white kitten looking up at him.

"I'm speechless. But you know Howard won't let me keep a cat."

"He'll live here, and you can visit him all you like!"

Cam couldn't help but smile at her.


	11. Fire

_I actually found this particular one to be the hardest to come up with something to write about. What I came up with may slightly push on the rating, but I think it fits very well._

_11. Fire_

The fire in her eyes was intense, _burning_, as were her fingertips as they ran along the skin of his back under his shirt.

"Lily," he whispered against her lips. "Dear, sweet Lily…"

She didn't say anything, and she didn't need to. She just let her eyes smolder into his and he let himself melt under the flames' heat.

There were a thousand societal reasons why this was wrong. They were adults; they should know better than to engage in such acts before marriage.

"I love you." She murmured in his ear softly. That was all the reasoning he needed.


	12. Marriage

_12. Marriage_

Laney found him in his room, sitting on the edge of his bed, his head bowed and his hands in his lap.

"Where have you been? Everyone is waiting for you!"

Cam sighed. "I'm just some kid who runs a flower shop. I could tell you how to prune gardens, and how to arrange bouquets…but other than that, I don't know how to do a thing. How can I take care of her, let alone marry her?"

"Do you love her?"

He blinked. "With all my heart."

She grabbed his hand with a smile. "Come on, she's waiting for you."


	13. Death

_13. Death_

"You home?" Cam knocked on the farmhouse door.

"Door's open." He promptly entered.

She was standing at a window, her head bowed.

"What's wrong?" He frowned softly.

She turned towards him: in her hands was a vase with a wilting daisy.

"I tried so hard to keep it alive."

"Flowers can't live forever."

"But this one is a memory I never want to die."

An image flashed before him: he was tucking a white flower into her hair and she was leaning in to kiss him. _The first time…_

Cam put a hand under her chin. "I'll always be here."


	14. Look-Alike

_14. Look-Alike_

"I don't get it."

"What don't you get?"

"Why you like flowers so much."

"Why not? Flowers are beautiful."

"But they all look the same!"

Cam paused. "Well your sheep all look the same to me."

"What! How can you-"

"They're all fluffy and white."

"Each one is special! Fluff is shy, Connor is a little rough, and Snow is so loveable."

Cam picked up three roses. "This one is the loveliest shade of dark red. This one has a strong scent. And this one has very sharp thorns. See? All differently beautiful."

"Psh, artistic types."

Cam only laughed.


	15. Apple

_15. Apple_

Lillian and Cam did not garden together. Lillian grew crops, Cam grew flowers. The food of life, the beauty of life.

And then there was the apple seedling.

Together, they pulled the tiny tree in a wheelbarrow to the field. Lillian dug a hole; Cam set it in. Their hands pushed the dirt around its trunk.

And they watched it grow, hand in hand.

In summer, Cam relished in the tree's blossoms, cutting one off and putting it behind Lillian's ear.

In fall, Lillian plucked apples from its branches, and baked Cam pies and cobblers.

It was their together tree.


	16. Life

_16. Life_

Cam imagined having children would be like having tiny versions of himself and his wife crawling around the kitchen floor at his feet.

When he was first allowed to hold the little child bundled up in blue blankets, his mind drew up a portrait of an angry red tomato; a misshapen head with tiny bleary eyes squished back into puffy recesses of blotchy red skin.

Nothing like him. Nor like his sweet Lillian. But he wasn't supposed to be. He'd be his own little person, and he'd bloom one day. Cam cradled the child carefully, and safely, in his arms.


End file.
